Norbury w



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORBURY l/V. THORNTON, OFIIGENESEO, ILLINOIS.

GAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 438,962, dated October 21, 1890.

Application filed Apn'l 24, 1890.

To all whom tm/ay concern,.-

Be it known that I, NORBURY W. THORN- TON, of Geneseo, in the county of Henry and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Games, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip- Ition.

My invention relates to a game, and has for its object to provide a board of a peculiar construction, in connection with which checkers or similar blocks are used, and upon which an interesting game may be played, partaking somewhat of the character of the wellknown game of shuffle-board.

The invention consists in the novel construction of the board and in the combination,with said board, of slidingblocks, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the vlews.

Figure 1 is a plan View of the board, and Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the same.

The board A is preferably rectangular and provided with a dat smooth upper face or field A and a surrounding marginal flange A2 of any desired height. Upon the field of the board ve or more, preferably five, concentric spaces 10, 11, 412, 13, and lat areproduced, which spaces may be variously colored, asindicated in Fig. 1, or may be defined by colored-marginal lines. Upon the marginal lines of all the spaces, with the exception of the outer space 10, a series of pins or pegs 15 is projected upward at a right angle to the face of the board. Any number of pins may be employed; but the pins are so arranged upon the board that they will appear in aligning parallel rows, as illustrated.

In connection with the board checkers 16 or equivalent blocks or chips are employed, and in playing the game the checkers or blocks are adapted to be propelled across the board from any desired point upon the outer marginal line of the outer space 10. The preferred method of propelling the checkers is to'strike them with either the front or Serial No. 349,285. (No model.)

middle finger after the said finger has been curved downward to a contact with the thumb.

The object of the game is to dislodge as many as possible of the opponents men or checkers, and the pins 15, as arranged, serve as battle-pins to complicate the game and render it difficult to knock out the checkers or men.

The game is to be played in substantially 6o the following manner: Two or four persons may play. It' four persons play, those on opposite sides of the board are known as partners. Twelve black and twelve white checkers, or 1nen, as they are usually termed, are 65 used, one at a time, six of which are manipulated by each player when four are playing, and the players play in turn to the left. A play is made by placing a checker upon the outer marginal line of the outer space 10, as 7o heretofore stated, and snapping it with the finger, the intent being to drive the checker down one of the rows and deposit it, if possible, back of a pin for protection near any desired space, or to knock out a man from some space. The space 14 within the central row of pins is unobstructed by any depression or projection, so that the men or checkers may be shot straight across it, if desired, to knock out any of the opponents men. At the close 8ov of the game all men in the central space will count, for instance, ten, those in the next space five, those in the next space four, and those in the next space three. All men outside of the pegs or pins count ten for the opposite side. The men on the lines are moved into the next space outward before counting, and two hundred points may be said to constitute a game.

Although I have shown the spaces as rectangular, yet the contour of said spaces may 9o be changed, if so desired, the essential requirement being that the said spaces be con` centrically arranged. I also desire it to be understood that although the spaces have been shown and described as being diiferently colored the said spaces may, if desired, be dened by differently-colored marginal lines only.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters roo Patentl l. The herein-described game-board hav-v ing several concentrically-arranged series of pins, the playing-surface of the board within the central and other spaces being unbroken or uninterrupted, substantially as set forth.

2. The herein-described game-board having a series of concentric rectangular spaces, a series of pins around the outer margin of each space, the playing-surface of the board within the central and other spaces being unbroken or uninterrupted and the pins being lo in alignment in any direction across the board, substantially as set forth.

NORBURY WV. THORNTON. Vitnesses:

WM. H. HOSFORD, SUSAN AMY Hosronn. 

